How to Get Coaching Clients Without Social Media

Yes, you can build a coaching practice and get clients without daily social media posting. Lean into how you love to show up: writing, teaching, podcasts, workshops, or real conversations. Give the right women a way to find your work through search, referrals, and collaborations, then invite them to your email list or a call.

I built the following, and I hated the work of keeping it

In my previous business, I had about 30,000 followers on Facebook and 12,000 on Instagram. This was years ago, and those were big numbers back then.

I posted every day. I recycled things. I shared my lunch. I worked to stay visible, and it made me feel overexposed in a way that didn’t feel safe or comfortable.

I had built a successful business, and I was anxious inside the life it asked me to live. From the outside, everything looked like it was working. On the inside, I knew I wanted something different.

When I sold that business, I opened a bottle of champagne and got rid of my social media. I stayed off for a year, and it was the best.

When I started this business, I vowed to build it differently. I wanted to show that a woman has choices about how she creates a modern online business and how much of her life she makes available for public consumption.

Your experience of the platform deserves a say

Research gives us reason to pay attention. In a 2024 study, young women who took a one-week break from social media experienced better self-esteem and body image than those who kept using it as usual.[1]

For me, the daily experience was already telling me something. I was working hard to present a version of my life that fit a platform, and that took energy away from the work I wanted to give women.

If you enjoy Instagram, use it. If you enjoy making short videos, do that. You get to choose what works for you.

When I work with women, I ask them to choose a platform they’re comfortable with and a form of communication they want to keep doing. Some choose Substack. Some choose YouTube. Some choose podcasts. Each gives them a different way to teach and connect.

Your work deserves a medium that lets you express it fully.

Let your teaching do some of the introducing

I’ve been podcasting since 2005, and I believe in that level of teaching and leadership. Give me thirty minutes with an idea, and I have room to explain it, develop it, and show you how it lives in your experience.

My lunch will not change your life. Understanding why you keep putting your needs last, and learning what to do differently, gives us somewhere to go.

That’s why I choose long-form teaching. YouTube has social features; I use it to teach. The business I’m building runs through education and meaningful conversations rather than daily lifestyle posts.

As a coach, you have that choice too. Write the article that answers her question. Record the teaching that helps her understand what’s happening. Give her something useful, and explain how working with you takes it further.

Create a path from an answer to your work

Start with the woman you help and the problem you solve for her. What is she trying to understand? What is she searching for? What does she need to know before she trusts you with the next step?

Create a substantial answer in the medium you’ve chosen. Then show her the work you offer: who it’s for, what you do together, and how she begins.

A searchable article helps her find an answer. A video lets her experience your teaching. A podcast gives her time with the way you think. An email list lets you continue the conversation with women who have asked to hear from you.

Each piece needs a clear invitation. Explore the program. Book a call. Come to the workshop. Give her a way to move from understanding the problem into getting support with it.

Build connections with people who serve the same women

Some of your best opportunities begin with another person who understands your work. A yoga teacher, a community organizer, a podcast host, or a professional with a complementary service already meets women who need help.

Get to know them. Learn who they serve. Offer a teaching that helps their community, and explain which women your coaching supports.

Those relationships give your work a place to be encountered through real connection. Follow up with permission, keep the invitation clear, and track what leads to inquiries, conversations, clients, and revenue.

You’re building a business. Your effort needs to produce something beyond another piece of content.

If you want a real window into me, come talk to me

I want personal connection. I want to hear about your life, what brought you here, and what you want to do with the work.

Come ask how this certification fits you. Tell me about the women you want to help. Tell me about the kind of business you want to create and the life you want that business to support.

That’s the conversation I want to have. It gives us something more substantial than a curated window into what I ate for lunch.

You deserve a career that honors your time, your value, and your energy. Choose a way of reaching women that gives your work room to shine and lets you live the satisfaction you teach.

Alanna Kaivalya, Ph.D., is an author, educator, founder of The Institute for Feminine Psychology, and creator of The Satisfied Method™ Coaching Certification.

Source: [1] Out of the loop, Body Image, 2024.